Easter Ever After

That was a good weekend. I am very sorry to see it go.

Easter weekend has been one of my favorites for quite some time now. Even now, as someone who is not quite a church-goer, I enjoy it.

First, I can't quite explain this, but I have never seen a rainy or snowy Easter Sunday. Therefore, Easter, in my mind, is invariably sunny, dewy, and not too cool. Yesterday lived up to my expectations: it was a flawless South Florida day, the kind that attracts zillions of tourists to the beach. With the sun high overhead and the temperature in the eighties, I sat in my backyard and read the article about Kris Kristofferson in Rolling Stone. Finishing that, I moved on to The Maltese Falcon, which I have been carrying around in my purse all week, sneaking bits at lunch and before meetings. The sun put me into a torpor, from which I revived only by drinking some iced green tea.

Steve and I started our day with brunch at Michy's in Miami. We had the first reservation of the morning, and surprised Michelle Bernstein when we walked in. I say "surprised" because she came to our table during our meal to say hello and apologize for her appearance when we arrived (I hadn't noticed anything amiss, starstruck and geeky as I felt when I recognized her). We had eggs benedict over brioche and churrasco y huevos under one of the many Capiz-shell chandeliers and I thought to myself that I would like my house to look like the interior of Michy's: orange and navy and white, with tropical print upholstery. My house is actually kind of beige, which shows you the influence that key lime tarts with sunflower seed crusts can have on one's outlook.

The Easter Bunny is also pretty good to me.

For example, this wreath, made by my mother-in-law, Merri, and her sister, Yonna. Those little eggs are made of chocolate. In other words, parts of this wreath are edible, which makes it the best wreath I have ever received. The wreath vines themselves came from Merri's backyard, where they grow along a fence.

Jeff and Merri came over last night for Irish lamb stew and some Easter egg-dying. Merri and I have dyed eggs together for several years, and we hit the jackpot this year with a tie-dye kit. I ate some of these eggs for breakfast this morning and quite enjoyed the sight of pink and green shells piling up on my plate, next to the foils of a few chocolate eggs.

Also, I will be going to work today with blue-tinged fingernails, a subversive touch that makes me happy.

Happy day-after-Easter, everyone!

Delivery Day

Happy belated Valentine's Day! I hope that you were showered with love, or at least with chocolate, this weekend.

Steve and I drove to Miami's Design District on Saturday night. We rarely go out on Valentine's Day because that usually involves an over-priced prix fixe menu and crowds. This year, though, we got out of the house and made the drive to Sra. Martinez, Michelle Bernstein's new tapas restaurant.

I am no restaurant reviewer, so I won't drag you into a detailed analysis of the meal. I will just tell you that Steve and I loved it, from the crisp pork belly with fennel-orange marmalade to the Greek yogurt ice cream with sweet tomato marmalade and basil syrup. It reminded us that Miami is not such a long drive from Fort Lauderdale, and piqued my curiosity about what other interesting discoveries we could make in the Design District (a sentiment I felt again as we walked past Marni, with its mortgage-payment dresses, on the way back to our car).

*sigh* I will always be Fort Lauderdale, never Miami. That dress will have to stay where I saw it. At least so that we can pay our mortgage.

Michelle Bernstein published her first cookbook, Cuisine a Latina, last year. The dessert chapter of this cookbook is entitled, "The Shortest Dessert Chapter Ever." With only one recipe, it is indeed the shortest ever. The recipe is for Michy's bread pudding sounds excellent. I'll have to make it someday. For now, however, I created my own bread pudding recipe.

Last week, I promised you bread pudding with chocolate and bourbon caramel sauce. Today is delivery day.

Bread Pudding with Chocolate and Bourbon Caramel
A Fritter Original

For the bread pudding
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 stick of butter (4 tablespoons), melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes
3 cups of day-old bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup of broken semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 tablespoon brown sugar

For the bourbon caramel
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup water
1/8 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/4 teaspoon for cinnamon whipped cream
1/4 cup heavy cream, plus 1/2 cup for whipped cream
1/8 cup Kentucky bourbon

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, ground coriander, orange zest, and salt until well-combined. Once the butter has cooled, whisk it into the bowl in 1/4 cup amounts. It is very important to do this slowly, so that the eggs do not cook.

Place the bread cubes in a separate bowl and pour the cream mixture over them. Gently toss until the bread is well-coated, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

After the bread has chilled for an hour, remove it and toss again, ensuring that every surface of the bread has been covered with the cream mixture. The bread should be soaked at this point, but not falling apart.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a loaf pan and add half of the bread to the bottom. Scatter half of the chocolate pieces over the bread, then cover with the remaining half of the bread. Scatter the remaining chocolate pieces on top, then crumble the brown sugar over the surface. Bake for 25 minutes, until the bread pudding is golden on top and bubbly.

While the bread pudding is baking, make the bourbon caramel. In a small saucepan, heat the butter until the froth begins to fade and the edges of the liquid start to turn gold. Stir in the water, brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, then continue to cook until the liquids have reduced almost completely to a thick film on the bottom of the pan, about 6 minutes. Add the 1/8 cup of heavy cream and stir, then cook until the juice is syrupy, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the bourbon. Allow the skillet to rest for 1-2 minutes, which will allow the alcohol to evaporate.

Serve the bread pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven with 1/4 cup of bourbon caramel sauce and, if you wish, a scoop of ice cream.

Serves: 4

Sweetie

January weekends can be so weird. When you wake up on a Saturday morning in January, you're still on the heels of the holidays (no matter how distant they seem now), so a measly two-day weekend seems so short and hurried. You go from a one-year-old's birthday party on Saturday to a Superbowl party on Sunday in a rush, then down the rabbit hole to Monday before you've had a chance to relax.

That's how my January weekends feel, anyway.

Now, yesterday was the first day of February. Already, my schedule has lightened up. I even had some spare time to bake. Ahem. To bake.

To bake THE. BEST. COOKIES. EVER.

See?

Wait 'til you hear what's in them Melted semi-sweet chocolate. Walnuts. Dried cherries.

Folks, you haven't had a great cookie until you've had this cookie. I baked them yesterday afternoon before the Superbowl. They received universal thumbs ups and I knew that I needed to share them with you. So please, find some spare time in your busy weekends and give this recipe a try. You will not be sorry.

Chocolate Cherry-Walnut Cookies
Adapted from this recipe at Epicurious.com

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried cherries
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Set up a double boiler (if you have not done this before, it's simple: Pour 3 cups of water into a medium-sized saucepan, then nestle a stainless steel bowl on top. Heat the water to a simmer, and you've got a double boiler). Add the chocolate and butter and stir with a spatula until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it aside to cool to lukewarm.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In an upright mixer, beat together the sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Blend in the vanilla and the chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour mixture, then the dried cherries and the walnuts. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill the batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using two spoons, drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. You can eyeball the amounts here; just be sure that each ball of batter is roughly the same size as all the others to ensure even baking times. Bake the cookies just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheets.

Makes: a dozen large cookies

The Wonder of Dinner Plates and Cream Pitchers

I was raised in the kind of house where you would never ever dream of showing up to a party empty-handed.

Even when I go to a close friend's house, I must know what to bring. I really do want to know; you can't just say "nothing." I'm still not comfortable with the fact that my in-laws always say "nothing." If you say "nothing," you're getting a bottle of wine, whether you need it or not.

This may be a tad annoying to my South Florida friends; I understand this. But I was raised in a place where everyone pitched in. Someone brought a salad, someone else brought a side. My mom brought dessert.

The dishes would be lined up on long tables next to stacks of delicate Blue Danube plates and over the clink of silverware and ice cubes, you'd hear gentle exclamations like, "this is wahhhndurhful."

This kind of entertaining feels normal to me. It's not that I feel the need to "earn" my seat at the table; I just like to feel that I'm a part of things, I suppose; both the things that are happening here at this party, and the things that are part of our larger social relationships.

So, when you invite me over, assign me a task. It'll make me happy and keep me out of your hair.

This weekend, I made my chocolate chip cookies for Nick and Wendi's July 4th party. We nibbled them in little bites, huddled under the eaves as fireworks cracked and sizzled overhead. As the smoke drifted across the Intercoastal waterway, a yacht blared its horn in appreciation of the finale and a fine drizzle cooled our skin in the muggy darkness.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
A Fritter Original

1 stick of softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon brewed, then cooled coffee
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease two cookie sheets.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat until well-blended. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and coffee, and blend.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground cloves. With the electric mixer running, add the flour mixture to the batter in 1/2 cup amounts, mixing just until blended through.

Fold in the rolled oats and chocolate chips.

Using two spoons, drop the batter in small balls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a rack. These cookies freeze well, as does the uncooked batter.

Makes: 2 dozen


The title of this post comes from the late, great Laurie Colwin's The Lone Pilgrim.

A Cookie for All Seasons

Everyone has their share of family legends. Mine is no exception. A curious number of our family stories involve food.

Take the one about my dad and the Girl Scout cookies.

In the early 1980's, when my sister and I were very young, our parents purchased my father's childhood home in Texas. In my heart, it is my childhood home, too, although my family moved to the brighter lights of Dallas before I was nine. My sister and I would unearth little plastic Army Men figures in the backyard, forgotten there by our father and his siblings in the early 1950's. We played hide and seek under huge oaks in the acre of land surrounding the house, and jumped in big leaf piles in the fall.


One spring day, a pair of Girl Scouts walked up our long gravel driveway under the tall oaks and knocked on our front door. The customer of their dreams answered. An individual who knows a good cookie when he sees one, and has an unrestrained sweet tooth.

My dad.

He filled out an order form and the Girl Scouts walked down our gravel driveway, smiling. A few weeks passed and the Girl Scouts returned, pulling a red Radio Flyer wagon that was stacked with boxes of Thin Mints, Jubilees, and Shortbreads. They knocked on our front door.

My mother answered.

I'm not sure what words were exchanged between my parents later on, but I do know that we were flush with Girl Scout cookies through August.

The next year, the Girl Scouts returned. They walked up our long gravel driveway with their order form and knocked on our front door.

My mother answered.

These Girl Scouts were no dummies. Seeing my mom, they slid each other a long, entrepreneurial look before speaking.

"Mrs. Ross, is Mr. Ross home?"


Chocolate Mint Cookies
Adapted from this recipe from Bon Appetit

When Girl Scout cookies are in season, naturally, I purchase a fair number of boxes (I am very much my father's daughter in this regard). Since cookie season comes but once a year, however, I had to try out this recipe for those other eleven "off" months. It's not a Thin Mint, but it's got that peppermint-y, chocolate-y lusciousness that I love.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Beat the butter in large bowl until smooth, then beat in the peppermint extract and the vanilla extract. Beat in the sugar in 3 additions. Add the egg and beat until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat just until blended (the dough will be sticky).

Divide the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Form each piece of dough into a 2-inch-diameter log. Wrap the dough log with plastic and place in the freezer for 30 minutes until well chilled.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the cookie dough logs; roll briefly on work surface to form smooth round logs. Cut the logs crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place the rounds on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.

Bake the cookies until tops and edges are dry to touch, about 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool.

Meanwhile, add the chopped chocolate to a double boiler. Stir the chocolate until it is melted and smooth. Remove the chocolate from the heat and cool until slightly thickened but still pourable, about 2 minutes. Dip a spatula into the melted chocolate, then drizzle over the cookies.

Refrigerate cookies on baking sheets until chocolate is set, about 10 minutes.

Makes: about 3 dozen small cookies

Leapin' Lizards

I have been vindicated.

Iguanas swim. Someone other than myself saw it happen today.

For some time now, I have been trying to convince my husband that iguanas swim. Like, in our backyard pool.

South Florida is overrun with wild iguanas. With no natural predators in this region (other than a speeding Jetta), iguanas have adapted to South Florida's environment as easily as the rest of us.

They are not indigenous creatures. Iguanas were introduced to the great outdoors of Florida by pet-owners who could not be bothered to care for them or for the delicate ecosystem in our region. Burmese pythons arrived here in the same manner, and they are eating everything in the Everglades. Including alligators, it seems. I cannot in good conscience post a link to the photo of the python that actually exploded last year trying to down a six-foot gator, but you can google it, if that's what you're into.

Let's come back to the iguanas.


Please understand, I have no antipathy toward iguanas. To the contrary, I think that they are hilarious. They are naturally confident, if not charismatic. When they run, their legs windmill cartoonishly and they travel with surprising speed. If you approach one slowly, he will appraise you with a cold reptilian eye (captured above), then scramble away, tail flipping wildly. They like hot surfaces, so we see them in the street, in our driveway, and on our brick patio.


But in the pool, swimming? I know what I saw last summer: an iguana laying belly-to-bricks at the edge of our pool wanted a dip. He deliberately slid into the pool and wriggled gracefully underwater like an otter, coming to the surface for a moment to breath, then dipping below once again. A few moments later, he swiveled to another edge of the pool, climbed out, and coolly meandered up the trunk of our Schefflera tree.

Unfortunately, no one else saw this. Steve seemed skeptical of my story. "He must have fallen in," he said. I know what I saw, though.

This morning, the rain began pelting down with enough force to dislodge leaves from the Schefflera. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a green creature torpedo from our patio into the pool. Steve and I ran to the window, trying to spot the little guy under the choppy surface of the water.

The iguana surfaced at the far edge of our pool, plainly irritable. He didn't seem to like the rain at all, and kept most of his body underwater for several minutes, until the rain subsided. I suppose that he felt more comfortable half underwater than out in the open downpour. (Lest you feel concerned, my husband has rescued many an animal from our pool. No way would he have stood by if the iguana appeared to be in distress. I love this man).

Once he felt that the rain was slowing, the iguana reached a webby leg over the side of the pool and pulled himself up effortlessly (captured below). He stalked to the Schefflera and scurried up its trunk into the dense leaves. "Huh," said Steve, "they swim."


Since this is a food blog, you probably feel uneasy about how this story is going to tie in with what I've been cooking today. I assure you, I am not about to offer a recipe for jerk iguana.

Instead, I have a a recipe for brownies that I have adapted from the recipe of a fellow Fort Lauderdale blogger, Julie of A Mingling of Tastes. Julie uses Guinness in her brownies, so she calls them Guinness Brownies. Because I used Rogue's Mocha Stout instead of Guinness, I'm calling this version "Stout Brownies."

They're so good, they'll make you feel like you've been vindicated in some good way.


Stout Brownies
Adapted from A Mingling of Tastes

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces high quality white chocolate, chopped
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup stout beer, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spritz a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt, then set aside.

Melt the butter, 8 ounces of dark chocolate, and 4 ounces of white chocolate in a double-boiler, stir frequently to prevent scorching. Alternatively, you can use the microwave: Microwave on medium power for 45 seconds and stir. Continue microwaving and stirring at 30 second intervals, reducing to 15 second intervals as the chocolate is nearly melted.

Stop just when the chocolate is smooth. Set aside.

Combine the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and mix on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the melted chocolate gradually, beating on medium speed until combined. Next, add the flour mixture in 1/2-cup amounts, beating on medium speed until combined. Finally, add the stout in thirds and whisk until combined, just ten seconds or so. The batter should have some frothiness.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the brownies completely in pan, then cut into 24 squares and serve.

These brownies are divine with a glass of milk. Julie says that they also freeze very well.